50 Years of NASA's Space Food

Designboom has collected these awesome photos from NASA's 50 years of space missions, depicting the meals sent up with astronauts from the Mercury flights through today's ISS operations. NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory is in charge of researching what foods and packaging make most sense for astronauts, with the goal of "providing high-quality flight food systems that are convenient, compatible with each crew member's physiological and psychological requirements, meet spacecraft stowage and galley interface requirements, and are easy to prepare and eat in the weightlessness of space."

The containers look a little like MREs issued by the US military, and the food is largely freeze dried for efficient transportation. Spotted: mayonaise and mustard packets, peanut M&Ms, Kona Coffee, and even a "chocolate breakfast drink." Yum.